What Friends Are For
by ThousandYearsOfAwkward
Summary: Friendships have their ups and downs. You can go from chatting to arguing and back again in a matter of seconds. Gaara and Naruto's bond is no exception. One-shot


What Friends Are For

Naruto attempted to remove all traces of his previous tears as he silently walked into the patient room, which smelled faintly of disinfectant and floor cleaner. He couldn't let Gaara see him like that, he insisted to himself, trying to calm down.

Gaara had been given a private room and it was empty of other visitors, so Naruto quietly approached the side of the bed and sat in the closest chair. He cautiously peered over at Gaara, whose eyes were gently closed; Naruto immediately assumed him to be sleeping. He paused for a few moments and thought about the events that had led him there, and he felt tears start to well up in his eyes again.

"Damn it," he murmured to himself, trying to keep his breaths steady. Seeing Gaara in his weakened state made all the painful memories rush back to him. He gingerly took Gaara's hand, which was hanging idly over the edge of the bed.

Gaara's eyes snapped open at the touch, "Naruto?" he questioned, not waiting for his tired eyes to gain focus in the harsh lighting of the room.

Naruto couldn't decide if he liked the idea of a conversation or not, "Hey…" he said quietly, and his voice sounded strained. He rubbed his neck absently. There was a painfully long silence before he continued, "Are… you feeling okay?"

"Well I've definitely been worse… You actually came to see me?" Gaara asked, his eyes still only half-open.

"What do you mean, 'actually'? Of course I came to see you. You're one of my best friends," Naruto said, squeezing Gaara's hand.

"Speaking of which…" Gaara started slowly, trying not to seem too flattered by the previous comment. But his flushed cheeks betrayed him, "How's Sasuke?" he continued carefully, "Did you happen to hear any news about him?"

Naruto paused, remembering the harsh words that Sasuke had said to him directly upon awakening; the words that had driven him away in tears, "He's… He's fine," the blonde muttered with unease.

Gaara immediately understood that Naruto and Sasuke still hadn't patched things up, and he gently rubbed the back of Naruto's hand in a reassuring fashion, "It's okay… I mean, I know I could never compare to _him_," Gaara paused, cautiously watching for any change in Naruto's expression at the repeated mention of Sasuke; he didn't want to accidentally push Naruto over the edge like he'd done in the past, "But I'll still be here for you… Always. And if you ever-"

"Whoa. Hey, hey, don't say that," Naruto interrupted as a late reaction to Gaara's self-deprecation; he had been too busy pitying himself to notice at first. Naruto waved his hands in front of him, as if that dismissed Gaara's comment, "Comparing you two is like trying to compare apples and oranges."

"Both fruit-"

Naruto's face flushed, "That's not my point," he growled with mock aggravation, but then his voice went right back to sounding calm again, "I like you the way you are, and please, don't ever change."

"But if I hadn't changed in the first place-"

"Ssh, you talk too much."

"And this is coming from _you_, of all people?" Gaara retorted with a wavering smirk.

"Smart-ass," Naruto said, grinning wildly. With all of the stress and pressures lately, he had forgotten the simple pleasures of having a conversation with a close friend. They'd come so far in their relationship, and they were finally at the point where they felt comfortable teasing each other like Naruto often did with his other friends.

Gaara sat up and scooted himself backwards to lean against the bed pillows, "How's Sakura?" he asked, hoping that she was all right, because if she wasn't, Gaara feared the mention of her might be a mistake.

"She's fine, I guess…" Naruto murmured, "She's been sitting in Sasuke's room since he got here."

Gaara paused, registering the information, "So she never visited you when you were still in critical-"

"Nope." Naruto's answer was short and aggravated.

"I'm sorry," Gaara muttered, knowing that he'd probably brought back some unwanted memories.

"No, it's not your fault." There was a long pause, since Gaara had become too cautious about hurting Naruto's feelings again to come up with any topic, "I just… Keep getting disappointed," Naruto murmured, starting to vent, "It seems like no matter what I do, I still get let down and treated like shit. The few times I've actually put faith in others, they've always let me down."

"Have I let you down?" Gaara asked nervously, his brain working in overdrive to try and remember.

Naruto grew really quiet, which Gaara took as a "yes." Gaara's heart sank, "I… Was it in the Land of Iron?"

Naruto stayed quiet, so Gaara continued carefully, trying to keep a smile in his voice, "I still don't know exactly what happened. I mean, no matter how much I analyze it, I can't figure out what I did to set you off. I heard that right after I left you had a panic attack-"

"Is _nothing_ in my life kept private?" Naruto fumed.

"I haven't told anyone. And I think that Kakashi only told me because he was worried about you. He wanted me to patch things back up with you," Gaara defended. He knew that it had come from a good place and didn't want Naruto to lash out at his former teacher.

Naruto's voice rasped, "I was already really stressed and hurt before you got there, and I guess when I saw you, I had hoped you would bring good news or comfort… Or at least not make me feel even worse."

Gaara looked genuinely hurt by Naruto's side of the story, particularly the fact that he still seemed to be extremely bothered by it, "I'm… really sorry, Naruto… I didn't mean-"

Naruto's voice and body language had changed dramatically; a stranger would never have been able to tell that these two were just chatting and laughing a few minutes prior, "I just felt like you didn't even care how I felt at that point and were just after your own goals… Just like everybody else. Everyone was just using me. I kept having to cater to everyone else, and you all kept throwing your problems on me-"

Gaara tried not to get angry as best as he could manage, "Sasuke was never _my_ problem-"

"Oh _really_? That's not what I heard." Naruto countered, his eyes shooting daggers.

"What are you talking about?"

Naruto stood up like he was going to leave, "I just guess I was wrong for having high expectations of the Kazekage," he said in a mocking tone.

Gaara tried to ignore the jab, but his voice sank to a dangerously low growl, "Don't dodge my question. Explain."

"I heard that you've had a thing for Sasuke this whole time."

"A '_thing_'…?" It took a few seconds for Gaara to realize what Naruto meant, "_That's_ what this is about? Who the Hell-? Where did you get that idea from?" He sputtered. He felt Naruto slipping away from him again and he didn't know how to get him back.

"I'm not ratting them out. But from the look on your face, they weren't lying to me." Naruto was getting increasingly angry by the second; he felt like he was going to burst into flames.

Gaara took a deep breath, "If I really did have a _'thing'_ for Sasuke, then why would I have passed the responsibility of figuring out how to deal with him on you?"

Naruto remembered how Sakura had feelings for Sasuke and it caused her to do the opposite, to go and confront him herself. His rage was quickly replaced by confusion, "Because you didn't want to have to kill him…?"

"I never told you to kill him, Naruto."

"But…" 

"And why would I have said that I'd kill him if you couldn't, just to protect you?"

"Because of the war-"

"You know me better than that. Of course I considered it a part of my duties, but you heard what I had said about you on the battlefield, right?"

He had. And his face completely drained of color as he suddenly realized that he had misunderstood Gaara's intentions, "But then… Why?"

"Because I care about you… I didn't want you to feel like you didn't get the proper chance to save him. When Temari was telling you what happened, you had this look on your face like you didn't believe Sasuke could do anything like that. I needed you to know how far gone he was, and I needed you to realize on your own whether you could change him or not… You needed to actually step back and think about it instead of blindly chasing him. "

"And I did, eventually… Or at least I thought I did… The circumstances are a little weird, now…"

Gaara scooted closer to Naruto and let his legs hang over the side of the bed, "It's just… You knew him best, so I felt like no one should have taken that opportunity away from you, and I felt like if I hadn't told you and been completely honest with you, someone else would have gotten to him first, and you'd spend your life wondering what would have happened if you'd handled it yourself."

"I wish you had explained yourself better back then. The whole beginning of the war had me feeling like an object rather than a person. It was all about me being a jinchuuriki again, and I thought I'd gotten past that."

Gaara's frown deepened at the last bit, knowing that feeling, "I'm so sorry…" He cautiously took Naruto's hand in both of his own.

"Don't be. I don't think either of us was right or wrong. It was just a misunderstanding."

"I know… But it's been hurting you for so long-"

"It doesn't matter as long as it's okay now, right?" Naruto said weakly. He truly felt that way, but all his venting and arguing had made him emotionally exhausted.

"Right," Gaara responded gently. He squeezed Naruto's hand, "I want you to know that I really appreciate everything you've done for me, both way in the past and recently…"

"You're welcome," Naruto said, exhaling a shaky breath.

"Are you going to be all right?" Gaara asked quietly.

"Yeah… I guess I'm just a little worn out from all the drama," he responded, laughing to himself. He started pacing awkwardly, obviously still filled with stress. He was smiling, but tears started rolling down his cheeks as the day's events sunk in, "God, I just got in a fight with the only person who's been nice to me all week." He laughed ruefully.

Gaara was on his feet and across the room like his life depended on it, "Don't worry about it," he said soothingly, putting his hands on Naruto's shoulders, "And I'd hardly call that a fight."

"Thanks… For being patient with me. I thought I'd almost lost you as a friend, there-"

"I don't think you could ever do something to lose me. You're too important to me. And that's what best friends are, right?" Gaara said evenly, but then he wavered when Naruto didn't answer right away, "Or not…"

"No, you're right," Naruto agreed, grinning genuinely, "Now go lay back down before you fall down. I'm serious," he said, wagging his finger, "Or else I'll tell Temari."

The threat, empty or not, was all it took.


End file.
